Vendor Barbeque – Is is Always Dissapointing?

I work at a company that sponsored a local barbeque competition. The event started only a few years ago and has since grown into a very successful festival. Each year, it seems that they achieve double digit growth.

What has also grown as the event has become more popular are the complaints about the barbeque sold by vendors at the event. Many of the attendees have commented that after standing in line to get “real” barbeque the “Q” sold did not taste very good. Now I’ve told several of these people that they generally won’t get competition level barbeque from the vendors authorized to sell to the public so don’t expect too much.

I explain that these guys have prepare to sell to many people and the preparation and cooking time may get truncated to meet the demand. Now with that in mind I ask is that really the truth? Do these guys take short cuts so that can sell volume instead of selling quality? I’m not sure but if that is the case then the short sighted vendors are missing a great opportunity to impress people with really good barbeque.

I think that it is time for an unscientific taste test at these events. I will start with the “Barbeque Pit at the Oyster Festival” (I will be judging there) scheduled later this month in Norwalk, CT and report back with what I found.